One photo a day challenge: Day 122.

Today we spent the day bird watching at one of my places to go visit. We went to Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge sits at the northern end of Cayuga Lake in the Finger Lakes Region of New York.

As we left in the morning it was bright and sunny. But as we arrived at Montezuma the clouds had settled in and it was quite dark and gloomy. It wasn’t going to be the best day for photography.

But even though it wasn’t a great day for photography we still saw a lot of birds. I am trying to learn to enjoy my experiences with wildlife more when I don’t have my camera or conditions aren’t good for creating compelling images.

Some of the birds we saw included: Bald Eagles, Osprey, Great Blue Heron, Blue Winged Teal, Northern Shoveler, Tree Swallows, Cormorants, Pied Billed Grebe, Purple Martins, and two wading birds I haven’t confirmed the identification of yet, a sandpiper and a yellow legs.

There was the largest flock of swallows filling the sky overhead. And there was also the largest gathering of Great Blue Heron I have ever seen there. It was a cool sight to see.

Even though I was able to see a lot of cool birds often for extended periods of time, my favorite moment was the one captured in this photo. I walked out to one of the viewing blinds. After watching the birds for a bit. I turned to walk bnack tot he car. I had just been watching the flock of swallows zooming around in and out of the reeds along the wetlands. Then I turned around and there was this Barn Swallow perched right next to me.

The Barn Swallow remain perched atop the dead plant. I was able to capture a few moments of the bird sitting there atop tits perch. Then I captured this moment as the Barn Swallow turned and flew off.